A daily dose of recovery on social media

Twitter and the 12 Steps: Rosecrance Health Network has found a way to marry the two in its latest recovery-supporting activity.

The Illinois addiction and mental health treatment organization this month launched its Rosecrance 12 Tweets account on Twitter. Each day, followers receive a short message inspired by one of the Steps, in a rotation following the Steps’ actual order. And next Tuesday’s message won’t be identical to last Friday’s: Rosecrance says it already has six months’ worth of fresh inspirational material, all in installments of 140 digestible characters or fewer.

Several Rosecrance employees, led by its recently retired chaplain the Rev. Dr. William Lenters, are drafting the postings. Alumni coordinator Melissa Garrison and clergy community relations coordinator Rev. James E. Swarthout are among the other main contributors.

Rosecrance director of communications Judy Emerson says the postings will reflect their authors’ passion for 12-Step recovery. “They’ll be telling it like it is,” she says.

Here are a couple of examples from recent days:

“Telling God about how you screwed up is the easy part. Now try telling the sordid details to a trusted friend.”

“Your reputation is shot. The cat is out of the bag. Let it meow. Name the demons.”

Once you are on Twitter, you or your clients can follow this motivational offering by searching under Rosecrance 12 Tweets and clicking on the “Follow” icon.